I was peddling along this morning, about an hour and a half into what I knew would be about a seven hour ride, and for some reason I thought about my wife, who is down in Okinawa right now helping our daughter out with a brand new grand-baby. I call every day and she looks pretty happy with that little guy. I’m glad she’s getting the chance — we missed so much when our first grandson was born at the height of Covid. We didn’t get to see him until he was nearly a year and a half old.
In the middle of these thoughts, I suddenly remembered that we were married 37 years ago today. So there’s that.
Last weekend, Albert, Joon, and I rode 67 miles. It was a great ride with a beautiful descent, but as we finished around 1130, the heat and humidity were making us all miserable. So I resolved to get out even earlier than the 5AM start we had for that ride. Monday at 4 worked well for us — a pleasant 51 miles and home by about 9 — so 4 sounded good to me. My riding partners were not so enthusiastic, so we settled on 0430.
The weather was with us though. Overcast and cool for the entire ride. Just short of 77 miles, nearly 3,000 feet of elevation, and home by 1130. My fourth visit to Big! Stone! Face! — the second time we’ve gone the long way. It’s a great ride out that way — some beautiful valleys, and with today’s weather (overcast, clear air, deep greens — you can see from the pictures) everything looked incredible. A great ride that didn’t break me like last week did.
After I got home, walked the dog, and showered, I celebrated our anniversary by going with Joon for some Galbitang and a visit to a good coffee shop and bakery. Told my daughter to take her mother out to wherever she wanted and bill me. And now I’ll celebrate the rest of the day by chilling on the couch, watching a ball game, reading a book, and just plain snoozing.
It’s been a good day.
What a nice trip. Loved the pics!